Kepka, an engineer, photographer and filmmaker from Napier, and three friends travelled to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone shortly after Ukraine made it easier for foreigners to visit the country. Foreign visitors can now get short-term visas for stays of up to 90 days.

"I have heard a lot about the communist architecture and the legacy that it had left on this area of the world, but until I could see it with my own eyes it was really hard to envisage."

BEN KEPKA

Ben describes his visit to Chernobyl as the trip of his lifetime.

An explosion at the nuclear plant spewed out a cloud of radioactive dust that spread across much of Eastern Europe.

A concrete sarcophagus was hastily erected over the facility to prevent further contamination. The sarcophagus last year was reinforced with a steel dome.